Their King
by Mononoke-hime x sukai kurora
Summary: After Emiya Shirou's death, an aged Tohsaka Rin thinks about the life that he lived and his love for Saber despite years waiting.


_Their King_

Tohsaka Rin lowered her knees as much as she was able to. The long dark hair that had once framed her face was now white as the snow seeping into her clothes, but her eyes were as blue as it had been in her youth. She could still remember when they were young as her aged hands held a single rose, of their faces laughing and smiling as they ate one of his meals. _Shirou… _Rin thought as she placed the flower on the grave. The trees above her head were blanketed with snow, and other graves surrounded her. Her mind could still remember the Fifth Holy Grail War that they had fought together. Of Shirou, his brown eyes bright in determination as he continued to pursue his _stupid _ambition. _Or so I thought then, _Rin thought as she closed her eyes at the memory.

_You did become a hero of justice, Shirou. No…more than that. _Rin could remember the small smile she had when a younger Shirou had been tackled by a pair of fifteen to eighteen year olds, acting like children. His students. _You became their king. _She remembered of what Shirou had told her not longer after the war had ended. _"I have no regrets," _the young boy had stated to her. She couldn't read the expression in his eyes. _"I know I will see her again, Tohsaka." _Suddenly he smiled at Rin's sad expression.

"_It's not that bad, you know. I still have memories of her." _He had moved forward that day and whispered in her ear. _"She is all I need, and…she will always be my king." _Rin smiled down at the grave before her, tracing the characters bearing Shirou's name. The old man she had known since he was a young teenager had died only a year before. She could still feel the saltiness on her lips as the tears had fallen that day. It had been a cold winter's night, and the doctor had stated the cold must have been too much for the old man. Others had speculated it had been heart failure.

No matter what anyone had stated, people had been beyond stunned that the beloved Emiya Shirou had suddenly passed away in his sleep one December night. He had been a teacher for fifty years since the age of twenty-four, and had touched the hearts of everyone that had known him. Rin remembered of how hysterical laughter had escaped her when Shirou had told her sheepishly that he was going to be teaching at their old school when he graduated. _"You? A teacher?" _she had laughed. _"That doesn't sound like the hero of justice!" _

Shirou had simply smiled at her and told her that he _would_ be a hero, just not in the traditional sense. _"Teenage years are hard to go through even without what we had to go through," _Shirou stated calmly. _"I want to help them as much as I can." _Rin had quieted at the solemn expression on her friend's face. It reminded of her when he thought little of his own life, and sought to prove his worth through selfishness. _He had been a good teacher though, _Rin thought fondly at the memory of the many students that he taught surprising him for a birthday that he almost always forgot, and the gifts that gave him for any occasion, or for no occasion at all. _"This is for you, Emiya-_sensei_!" So many girls had crushes on him too…_

He had been a very kind and wise teacher by the time he had reached the age fifty. No one in the staff at his school could say anything negative about him, except for perhaps that he worked too hard for being a single man with no children. Rin had talked to Shirou about this, but he remained firm. _"I love no one but her, Tohsaka." _Rin had sighed in exasperation at the sound of her family name. She had told him to simply call her _Rin_, but he stated that it was simply an old habit to call her what he had always called her. _"I will wait for her, no matter how long the time may be." _

Rin couldn't simply imagine having that devotion towards a single person. She had fallen in love herself, and she could not imagine simply loving her husband Masaru from afar, not seeing him for years on end. Having only faded memories of him. The Fifth Holy Grail War, hadn't even been a year, and yet it was enough for the humble old man that had smiled more than in his youth and lived like a monk. Only Shirou was capable of such selflessness.

_And Saber too, _Rin thought. She thought of the mystical hero once again. Shirou had confessed to her that he was staring to lose memory of her during one their last conversations before he died. Even so, he did not cry. _"I still have some brief moments of when I feel I'm a teenager in love again," _he had whispered. _Saber… _Rin thought about the king that had captured Shirou's heart.

Instead of staying with Shirou as most would do, she had chosen duty as a king. She had chosen her people over Shirou, to fight for what she believed instead of having another chance of happiness with the man that she loved so much. Although she loved the young boy with all her heart, she would not leave her people to torment and death. _Both of them were selfless, _Rin thought as she looked at the sky.

It was snowing, the small tufts of white falling on her face. _No one truly knew anything about him, or his life, _Rin thought solemnly as she thought about the whispered questions of his students as she had come over to visit her old friend one day in the dojo. Shirou had not only been a high school teacher; he had also been an instructor of _kendo_ for many years. Before he graduated from college, even. He had lived a good life, he had told her many times with his young face now aged and his formerly red hair permanently gray. _You did, Shirou. _

Hundreds had come to Shirou's funeral a week after his death. Former students, now in their fifties, neighbors and people that he had been kind to, and current students with their young faces and dreams, all cried that day. Emiya Shirou had been beloved by everyone. _"He was our king," _stated one student as she talked quietly with an elderly Tohsaka. _"We would do anything for him, and he was so…kind to us. Like we were his people." _

_You were their king, _Rin thought as her palms grazed the tomb. _As she was yours. _

"_Obachan?" _Rin turned to find her grandson standing by the other graves with a confused look on his face. "When are we going to get some hot chocolate?"

Rin stood shakily and smiled at the pouting little face. "We're going now." Immediately at those words, the child started to pull her hands, his dark bangs falling into his eyes. "We're going, Shirou." A smile graced her face as she looked back at the grave of her friend. "It's a wonderful name, isn't it?"

_I hope you are happy, reunited with Saber forever…Emiya Shirou. _


End file.
